Now get this: On the eve of their first-round playoff series, the Ducks are attempting to forget about the ending to their last game against the San Jose Sharks.

“With everybody knowing what’s at stake in the playoffs, I don’t think you’re going to see games get out of hand like they have in the past,” rookie forward Bobby Ryan said. “I don’t expect it to be a fight-filled series by any means.”

Maybe it won’t be. It’s not as if the series needs any more subplots.

Not since the Kings beat the Oakland Seals in 1969 have two California teams met in a Stanley Cup playoff series. No team this decade has fallen short of expectations as often as the top-seeded Sharks, who have been eliminated in three of the past four postseasons by a lower-seeded team.

Also, no team sounds as confident about its chances for an upset as the Ducks. Behind the strong play of Hiller, the presumptive Game 1 goaltender, they finished the season on a 10-2-1 run to clinch the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff berth.

“I guess there’s two ways of going in,” forward Todd Marchant said.

“You can go in on a down note, or you can go in on a high note, and we’ve played some of our best hockey over the last month. The playoffs started for us four or five weeks ago.”

The Sharks’ recent record, by contrast, gives fodder to anyone hoping for an upset. Beginning with a 5-2 loss to the Ducks on April 4, they finished the regular season by going 2-3, including a 4-1 loss to the lowly Phoenix Coyotes and a 1-0 shootout win over the lowlier Colorado Avalanche.

Since Feb. 22 – nearly two months ago – the Sharks have won just twice by more than a single goal, something that happened early and often on their march to the Presidents’ Trophy, awarded to the team with the NHL’s best record.

Monday marked the first time all season that every member of the team felt good enough to practice. At full health, San Jose is among the league’s deepest teams.

“It’s tough because they’ve got the (Joe) Thornton line as well as the (Joe) Pavelski line,” Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “They’re both pretty offensive-threatening lines. It’s a matter of what our matchup’s going to be, what works.”

Finding an answer to the line of center Thornton, left wing Patrick Marleau and right wing Devin Setoguchi is the Ducks’ most pressing defensive concern. That trio combined for 94 goals and had more success in their last two meetings matched mostly against Getzlaf’s line, than they did early in the season when shutdown center Samuel Pahlsson was still roaming the ice.

Should they get drawn in to a frustrating matchup, Getzlaf and linemate Corey Perry have a history of taking costly penalties. The Ducks’ top scorers also were among the team leaders in penalty minutes – Getzlaf had 121 and Perry 109.

“We can’t go in there and take a bunch of penalties and retaliate, and have a parade to the (penalty) box,” Marchant said. “We have to stay composed.”

Which brings us back to the best part of a rivalry just waiting to explode: These two teams genuinely don’t seem to like each other.

Even before the April 5 melee, Perry drew particular ire – notably, from goaltender Evgeni Nabokov – for his agitating style of play.

Selanne still hasn’t been forgiven for declining a contract extension from the Sharks six years ago. Yet, when he was asked Monday about being booed whenever he plays in San Jose, Selanne said that “it’s Pronger now. He’s going to steal the show.”

As long as anyone other than a referee steals this show, the series ought to live up to the hype.